Sunday, January 26, 2014

Exodus 2: Inner Beauty Revealed

Va'era/Appeared (Exodus 6:2-9:35) 

God spoke to Moses and said to him, "I am YHVH. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as El Shaddai, but with My name YHVH I did not make Myself known to them." (Exodus 6:2, 3)

We celebrated the marriage of Shmuel and Shevi this week at Kibbutz Hafetz Hayim.  Shmuel's father Steve and Mel are first cousins.
Steve is a professor of earth sciences at Bar-Ilan University.  He earned his Ph.D. at MIT and worked for Harvard and the US Air Force.

Our photos show Steve bringing the groom to his bride and the bride's parents escorting her to the hupa wedding canopy.
Under the hupa, Shevi walks around Shmuel and Steve blesses them.  The band greets the newlyweds and the dancing begins.

YHVH God said, "It is not good for man to be alone.  I will make a compatible helper for him." (Genesis 2:18)
The beautiful dialogue between husband and wife that draws divine light into every aspect of their lives together is revealed in YHVH.

All the divine names in the Torah are not really names of God, but rather names for levels of divine light drawn down into everyday life.
The name YHVH revealed to Moses, usually translated as “God,” should be translated as “Is-Was-Will Be.”

It integrates past, present, and future of the verb "to be" while revealing the divine attribute of inner beauty (tiferet).
Tiferet is where masculine and feminine divine attributes meet to create the beautiful inner glow shared by a loving couple.

Tiferet is the beautiful integration of successfully (netzah) creating a lifelong relationship based upon loving kindness (hesed).
YHVH as the integrating tiferet was revealed to Moses, while Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob only knew God as El (hesed) and Shaddai (netzah).